Standing Pat In Reading

Yesterday was a good day for Joe Buzas. You could tell it in his voice. He sounded like he just heard the umpire yell, "play ball."

By nature, Buzas is a happy guy. He can even smile through a rainout.

However, in the last week or so, there have been some developments surrounding his minor league baseball interests in Reading that have made him "mad as hell." Things were said to be happening that he didn't even know about.

You might have read last week where a group from Warminster in Lower Bucks County said it was going to get Buzas' Reading Phillies. The funny thing is that Buzas never said anything about moving.

Yesterday, after a meeting with Reading City Council, Buzas put to rest any moves. "I'll be in Reading for a good many years," he said.

Buzas and the city have been hangling over a lease at Municipal Stadium where Buzas' Phillies play. "It was a productive meeting," he said. "We got a lot of things straightened out."

The one major debate centered on the length of the lease. But, according to Buzas, "that will be taken care of shortly."

The Warminster people apparently took a lot for granted. Buzas supposedly helped the Lower Bucks group in planning for a new stadium. That was the extent, but the group thought that the Reading team was coming along with the new facility.

"I was just trying to help them out," Buzas said. "I never said anything about moving my team down there."

The parent Phillies never knew anything about it, either. The Phillies are bent on keeping a minor league team in Reading. They like the idea of having a Double-A team so close to Philadelphia. In fact, the Phils would like to get their Triple-A operation a little closer, too.

The Phils Triple-A team is in Portland, which, oddly enough, is another story, with Buzas included. Buzas was in Portland earlier in the week to search out the possibilities of buying that operation. "I can have it if I want it," he said yesterday. He didn't care to go into more detail.

Then, there is the possibility that Reading would get Triple-A ball. "We will be in line for it," said Buzas, "when they (Triple-A) decides to expand."

Buzas, the most successful minor league executive in the country, runs a team in New Britain, Conn., as well as the Reading franchise. He also had the Peninsula team, but he sold that early last December.

Reading has had minor league baseball for over 20 years. It has become a "way of life," according to Buzas. He had a lot of support in that area.

The Phillies themselves said that "Reading has a tradition of minor league baseball. You know you'll get a certain amount of support there. Bill Giles (the Phils chief operating officer) does not want to see the Reading phillies move out of Reading." Those words came from Larry Shenk, a club vice president in charge of public relations.

State Sen. Michael O'Pake went to bat for Reading, too. He said: "I'm sure Warminster wants baseball. We want to keep baseball in Reading. I'm concerned about this. Baseball is invaluable in so many ways to our community, and that can't be taken lightly. It's important and we can't lose it."

Buzas pointed to the folks up in the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton area who had just formed a baseball corporation to get minor league activity back into their area. "That's great," he said. "They (the people up there) have demonstrated strong support by the way they went about to get baseball. They have to be admired for that."

Buzas sees no conflict. In fact, he thinks it would help his operation. Somewhat of an intrastate rivalry, which, he says, "can't hurt either of us." While the Eastern League had an increase in attendance last summer, Reading's gate dropped off by about 20,000. Reading ranked seventh in the eight-team league in attendace, but Buzas cited some reasons for the dropoff.

Rainouts were the big reason, and one of the most costly rainouts was the annual visit by the Big Phillies. That game usually packs Reading Municipal Stadium. Then, there was the matter of three fewer home dates than the season before.

"It was just one of those years," said Buzas. "We'll come back strong this summer."